AMD Plans to Launch A-Series “Trinity” APUs in Q2 2012 – Source

Advanced Micro Devices intends to speed up the launch of its code-named Trinity A-series accelerated processing units (APUs) and release its next-generation Fusion chips already in the second quarter of 2012. Besides, the company intends to release a new FX-class Fusion Controller Hub (FCH) that will add better support for multi-GPU configurations and high-end RAID capabilities.

At present AMD’s Fusion A-series accelerated processing units (APUs) with integrated graphics adapters power mainstream personal computers that are not used for hardcore gaming. However, with the next-generation A-series Vision platform AMD plans to target the market of gamers: the Trinity APUs will feature high-performance Bulldozer/Piledriver x86 cores, and the A85FX FCH will feature native support for CrossFireX multi-GPU technology as well as RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 capabilities.

AMD’s second-generation code-named Trinity APU for mainstream personal computers (Comal for notebooks and Virgo for desktops) will be made using 32nm SOI HKMG process technology at Globalfoundries. The APU will feature up to four x86 cores powered by enhanced Bulldozer/Piledriver architecture, AMD Radeon HD 7000-series "Southern Islands" graphics core with DirectX 11-class graphics support, DDR3 memory controller and other improvements. The chips will be compatible with new FM2 infrastructure.

AMD claims that Trinity will offer up to 50% improvement in GFLOPS performance with the same power consumption as currently available A-series "Llano" APUs or similar GFLOPS horsepower with 50% reduction of power consumption.

Sources with knowledge of AMD’s plans said that the company intends to release the first Fusion Trinity APUs in the second quarter of 2012, less than a year after the company launched its Llano accelerated processing units.

The A85FX FCH – code-named Hudson D4 – will feature integrated clock-speed generator, PCI Express with CrossFireX support, PCI, USB 3.0 support, 8 SATA-6Gb/s ports and so on. The chipset will hit production in Q1 2011 and will be released at a yet unknown timeframe.

The improved support of multi-GPU technology by the second-generation A-series Vision platform code-named Virgo indicates indirectly that AMD’s expectations for the next-gen mainstream platform will be competitive enough for the market of gamers.